


Turbulence

by horrorterroronesie



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen, Greed (FMA) Lives, wait! he isnt dead! shia surprise!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-16 13:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12343596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horrorterroronesie/pseuds/horrorterroronesie
Summary: The Promised Day ends. Other things happen. Nobody notices something is wrong with Ling, not that he would let them.





	1. relative stillness

**Author's Note:**

> heeey so i somehow pooped this out at 10 pm on a dying laptop out of nowhere <:B

The Fullmetal Alchemist performed his last transmutation. Alphonse Elric looked up into the midday sky, shivering with unprecedented sensation. And then it was over.

 

Quietly. Lan Fan moved away from the gathered crowd. The young master was sitting, staring bereft at the back of his hand. He made a small noise in the back of his throat.

"Are you all right? We should go soon." The bodyguard made her presence known. Glancing up, Ling shook his head, like clearing cobwebs, and jumped up.

"Wait a moment- there's something I need to do first." He strode over to the Chang princess.

 

What he needed to do ended up being an invitation to an alliance, however that could pan out. Lan Fan was not one for politics more than she needed to be, but she had to admit she had grown vaguely fond of the younger girl during their shared stay at Dr. Knox's house.

 

They made their shared goodbyes, packed up loose ends (Fu needed to get a proper funeral, after all was said and done,) and made their way out of the country. It was clear something was plaguing Ling's thoughts, but the facade he put on was doubly exuberant to compensate. This was the manner in which they found themselves crossing the desert yet again.

 

She caught the prince staring at the back of his hand often, whenever he thought everyone was asleep, or at least that nobody would care enough to notice. As they neared the end of their journey, he withdrew to himself with increasing frequency, face clouding over like he was trying to see into his own head.

 

Lan Fan was not stupid. She knew the homunculus and her charge had become closer nearing the end, engaging in a sort of single-minded camaraderie that would surely not have flown if they were anything less than sharing a body. What ill effects could occur following a, well, bout of what was basically demonic posession? 

 

She took particular care in the safekeeping of the Philosopher's Stone. It was with her or Ling at every moment, with whichever one of them was awake. Neither of them would actually trust just handing the Stone around like it was some sort of roadside attraction, and just because they were traveling together and engaged in a political alliance didn't mean they should trust- well. It could mean that they should trust May. But they wouldn't.

 

Neither of them noticed the Stone slowly diminishing, drop by drop, until the small bottle was half-empty.

 

They reached the outskirts of Xing with a minimum of fanfare, maybe startling a few farmers. As word of their adventures and exploits spread, they were ushered down to the capital, and the palace, where a triumphant Ling presented his findings. The Emperor had "sadly" passed away in the time they were in Amestris, so the process of the young prince ascending was relatively simple. The coronation was planned, agreements were made, and the red-arm-swingy-flappy-dealy of politics churned on ceaselessly.

 

Swept up in the flurry, nobody noticed when the soon-to-be-Emperor Yao would behave strangely for a few moments, or the ensuing bouts of minor amnesia. There were more important things to do.


	2. ripples

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO im sorry for leaving it this long, i totally lost all my planning for what was gonna happen. writing this chapter was a surprise but im gonna try to keep going! also sorry if ling ends up ooc im dead

Lan Fan spent long nights standing guard from the rafters of the newly-crowned emperor's bedchamber. The darkness seemed oppressive now more than ever, and she found herself flinching at small movements out of the corner of her eye. A small lamp, lighting the doorway with an unsteady, flickering glow, cast stark and constantly active shadows across the room.

 

Ling had nightmares as much as the rest of them. There were some things that one could not forget. Making peace with those things was even further out of the question. The sleeptalking was unique, however. Thrashing around,  mumbling fragments in a strangely deep, yet absolutely terrified voice. Clawing at the bedsheets. 

 

“Could we talk, my lord?” She spoke up. Ling was buried in the faded copies of the past emperor’s trade agreements with Amestris, poring over each line like it was the secret to immortality. Though… it wasn’t like they didn’t know it. He looked up.

“Ah, sure! What about?” She took a breath.

“About the homunculus. Greed.” It was like all the air had been sucked out of the room. He looked up at her seriously, his gaze piercing through her mask. 

“Yeah?” His voice was quiet, intense.

“Are you absolutely certain he is gone?”

 

Ling blinked up at her. 

“What?”

Lan Fan looked to the side, making a face for just a second before turning back to face him.

 

“You can’t expect me to not notice. You have been spacing out at official meetings far too much for it to just be boredom. The servants have been gossiping- saying that you acted completely differently for a few seconds, then acted like it didn’t happen.” Ling was still looking at her in silence, so she forged on. “And then there is your hand.”   
She hadn’t noticed it, at first. Or she had dismissed it as coincidence. But be as it may, her young master’s left hand always ended up covered in something, either in too-long ceremonial garb, hidden in some pocket, or gloves that he insisted were neccesary because ‘come on, Lan Fan! It’s cold! I can’t be the emperor if my fingers all fall off!’ 

 

Ling looked at her for a long moment, then sighed. Carefully, he pulled off the glove on his left hand.

 

There was an ouroboros tattoo. Half-faded, sure, but the shape was unmistakable. Or would it be better to call it half-appeared? Her breath caught.

 

“Listen- I’m sorry for keeping this from you. I probably should’ve guessed you’d find something, though. But it’s not… that big of a deal.”

“...Not that big of a deal.”   
“Yeah, look, it’s not like he’s even- I just space out, sometimes! It’s fine! You can’t jump to conclusions and get anyone’s hopes up.” His hopes, specifically, Lan Fan surmised. He missed the homunculus. She couldn’t understand it, herself, but her job wasn’t to understand. Just to protect.

“How did this happen?”   
“Good question! I, uh, don’t actually know. Best guess is that I somehow absorbed part of the Philosopher’s Stone we brought back at some point.”   
“But this is a recent development.”

“...”   
She glared at him as intimidatingly as she could muster. 

“...Probably. The tattoo is recent, at least.” He conceded. It had been going on since the Promised day, she bet. This would have just been yet another symptom in a long line.

  
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like he’s back.” 

She nodded, acquiescing, then merged back into the shadows.


End file.
